German police union urges use of digital tech to counter gun crime

Germany's GdP police union called on Monday for new digital tools to be used to counter the increasing use of firearms in crime on the streets of Berlin in particular.

The call came after at least two incidents in the German capital over the weekend.

"Anyone carrying a firearm and prepared to use it poses a significant danger to society as a whole. Berlin must never become accustomed to seeing and hearing about such incidents," GdP Berlin chairman Stephan Weh said.

He pointed to new digital options that are already being used abroad. "We have to ask ourselves whether the legal powers currently available can have any real impact on acts of this kind," Weh said.

"Other European metropolises such as London are showing us how it can be done," he added, pointing to a "more modern" approach to data protection. London police use surveillance cameras, among other measures, and have already deployed automated facial recognition.

"Police alone cannot solve this problem. We need consistent prosecution and meaningful consequences for those who believe they can settle their conflicts with firearms on Berlin's streets," he said.

In recent incidents in Berlin, a 30-year-old man was shot and fatally injured during an argument involving several people at Zoo station in central Berlin, and on Friday evening, a 22-year-old man was shot outside a café in Berlin's Kreuzberg district.